Engaged or Frustrated? Disambiguating Emotional State in Search

摘要

One of the primary ways researchers have characterizedrnengagement during information search is by increases in searchrnbehaviors, such as queries and clicks. However, studies havernshown that frustration is also characterized by increases in thesernsame behaviors. This research examines the differences in thernsearch behaviors and physiologies of people who are engaged orrnfrustrated during search. A 2x2 within-subject laboratoryrnexperiment was conducted with 40 participants. Engagementrnwas induced by manipulating task interest and frustration wasrninduced by manipulating the quality of the search results.rnParticipants’ interactions and physiological responses werernrecorded, and after they searched, they evaluated their levels ofrnengagement, frustration and stress. Participants reportedrnsignificantly greater levels of engagement when completingrntasks that interested them and significantly less engagementrnduring searches with poor results quality. For all searchrnbehaviors measured, only two significant differences were foundrnaccording to task interest: participants had more scrolls andrnlonger query intervals when searching for interesting tasks,rnsuggesting greater interaction with content. Significantrndifferences were found for nine behaviors according to resultsrnquality, including queries issued, number of SERPs displayed andrnnumber of SERP clicks, suggesting these are potentially betterrnindicators of frustration rather than engagement. Whenrnpresented with poor quality results, participants hadrnsignificantly higher heart rates than when presented withrnnormal quality results. Finally, participants had lower heart ratesrnand greater skin conductance responses when conductingrninteresting tasks than when conducting uninteresting tasks. Thisrnresearch provides insight into the differences in search behaviorsrnand physiologies of participants when they are engaged versusrnfrustrated and presents techniques that can be used by thosernwishing to induce engagement and frustration during laboratoryrnIIR studies.